This poem was submitted to me by her mother Juila Phillips. A child torn apart from her loving parents care, custody, and control by CPS.

I'm hurting so deeply,
Doesn't anybody understand?
Out of all these people,
Not a one will hold my hand.

Doesn't anybody care
About how much I've lost?
Is anybody out there--
Someone that I can trust?

My heart is loudly crying,
But no one can hear,
'Cause no one is trying
To remove what I fear.

They turn their faces away,
Trying not to see my pain.
There is so much they could say,
But they always refrain.

Can anybody hear me?
Does anyone know
A place where I'll be free?
A refuge where I can go?

Take me away from all the sorrow
To a quiet placee--
A refuge until tomorrow
I can rest in God's embrace.

By Esther Joy Phillips, age 15, who was taken
away from her parents and separated from her 9 siblings
in May 2001.